Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.
The percentage of Nevada children without health insurance is an embarrassment by any measure. A study in 2001 by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a national philanthropic organization that analyzes health care issues, found that 16 percent of Nevada's children didn't have health insurance, earning Nevada the dubious distinction of being sixth in the nation in that category. Last year the Great Basin Primary Care Association, a Carson City-based group that advocates on behalf of community health centers, found that of about 112,000 uninsured children in the state, approximately 82,000 came from Southern Nevada.
It's more than just numbers, as the Sun reports in today's installment of the seven-part series, "Children Left Behind." If a child goes without medical care, it can be debilitating. Even a routine illness can quickly worsen, endangering the child's life. While Nevada ranks poorly in terms of children who are uninsured, it could be worse. Nevada Check-Up, a joint federal-state program that provides low-cost health insurance for children who come from lower-income families, had 25,687 children enrolled as of March. Participants in the program, based on a sliding scale of how much they earn, pay up to $200 a year for each child covered by health insurance. Still, thousands of parents don't have health insurance for their children due to the fact that they either make too much to qualify for Nevada Check-Up, their employers don't offer health insurance or, if the employers do offer coverage, the policies are too expensive to buy.
If employers were providing affordable health insurance, this wouldn't be a problem. Part of the larger issue, and the more difficult one to address, is how we get more people insured. Universal health insurance for both children and adults won't go anywhere because too many elected officials oppose government playing such a large role in the health-care system. Even though the state is facing a budget crisis, at a minimum the Nevada Legislature should continue to financially support the Nevada Check-Up program for children. But we can do more. An idea that should be considered by the federal government and the states is expanding programs such as Nevada Check-Up. The eligible income levels could be broadened, so that parents who currently don't qualify for government assistance could enroll if health insurance is now beyond their means. In the same way th at children in this nation shouldn't have to go hungry, children shouldn't have to go without medical care because their pa! rents don't make enough money.
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